Jackson doctor guilty of killing ‘King of Pop’

Following a six-week trial, the 12-member jury ruled that Murray gave the King of Pop a fatal overdose of the powerful anaesthetic propofol.

Dr Murray, 58, sat silently, shifting in his seat as the verdict was read out, while a crowd erupted in cheers outside the Los Angeles courthouse.

Murray, who had denied one count of manslaughter, could now receive a maximum prison term of four years and lose his licence to practise medicine.

Bail was denied and he was led out in handcuffs following the verdict. He will be sentenced on November 29.

Throughout the trial, Jackson family members watched from the spectator gallery, fans gathered outside with signs and T-shirts demanding Justice for Michael, and an international Press corps broadcast reports around the world.

Members of Jackson’s family wept quietly after the guilty verdict was read and sister LaToya said she was overjoyed.

As she left the courtroom, LaToya said: “Michael was looking over us.”

Jackson’s mother, Katherine Jackson, said she was confident this would be the outcome of the trial.

It emerged during the trial that Jackson had easy access to an array of prescription drugs. He died at the age of 50 at his rented Los Angeles mansion on June 25, 2009 with a cocktail of sedatives and anaesthetics in his body.

Prosecutors labelled Murray as incompetent for giving the anaesthetic propofol without adequate safeguards and said he abandoned Jackson as he lay dying.

The doctor’s lawyers sought to show he was a medical angel of mercy with former patients vouching for his skills. Murray told police from the outset that he gave Jackson propofol and other sedatives as the star struggled for sleep. But the doctor said he had been trying to wean him off of it and administered only a small dose on the day Jackson died.

His defence team claimed Jackson self-administered the dose when the doctor left the room, although a prosecution expert said that theory was crazy.

Murray said he had formed a close friendship with Jackson, never meant to harm him and could not explain why he died.

He had agreed to become Jackson’s personal doctor as the singer prepared for a series of comeback concerts in 2009.

Murray did not give evidence in court but had previously acknowledged to police that he gave Jackson propofol and other sedatives on the morning the singer died.

The circumstances of Jackson’s death at the age of 50 were as bizarre as any chapter in the superstar’s sensational life story.

He was found not breathing in his own bed in his mansion after being dosed intravenously with the drug normally administered in hospitals during surgery.

During the last 24 hours of his life, Jackson sang and danced at a spirited rehearsal, revelling in the adulation of fans outside.

But on the night he died he could not sleep and testimony showed Murray, who made personal and business calls during the evening, gave Jackson intravenous doses of the sedatives lorazepam and midazolam. The singer also took a Valium pill.

Finally, Murray told police, he gave the singer a small dose of propofol – 25 milligrams – that seemed to put him to sleep. The doctor said he felt it was safe to leave his patient’s bedside for a few minutes, but Jackson was not breathing when he returned.

Witnesses said he was most likely dead. What happened next was a matter of dispute.

Security and household staff said Murray panicked, ordering them to clear away medicines and the intravenous equipment and tried to give Jackson CPR on his bed, rather than calling the emergency services.

There was no law against administering propofol or the other sedatives, but prosecution expert witnesses said Murray was acting well below the standard of care required of a physician.

They said using propofol in a home setting without lifesaving equipment on hand was an egregious deviation from that standard, describing it as gross negligence, the legal basis for an involuntary manslaughter charge.

In closing arguments, the prosecutor said the mystery of what exactly happened behind the closed doors of Jackson’s bedroom would probably never be solved.